Dave

The early wholesale catalogs refer to onionskin marbles as “Glass Marbles, Spangled” (Althof, Bergmann, 1882) or “Glass Spangles” (Butler Bros., Spring 1902). The latter catalog offers them in larger sizes, and suggests that they are “beautiful ornaments or playthings”. Early German-language wholesale advertising uses the term “Tippelmarbel”. This has the same origin as the English word “stipple”, meaning painted with small dots or short touches. An interesting question is when did the term “onionskin” originate? I’ve never seen it used in early advertising. Reginald Wells (1955) misidentifies them as the first American poor imitations of German glass marbles. Mel Morrison and Carl Terison (1968) called them all “End of Day” with the incorrect presumption that they were not production items. Paul Bauman (1970) discusses these marbles “…I will refer to as onionskins”, not claiming to have coined the term. Clara Ingram (1972) calls them all “Joseph Swirls”. Mary Louise Stanley (circa 1973) names them, somewhat indiscriminately, “Onion Skin” [two words] or “Cloud”. No wonder we are still confused. Dave

Another definition of Spangle Glass starts: "Spangle glass is multicolored glass made from odds and ends of colored glass rods." I think "Spangled" marbles more likely refers to what we call Onionskins (with or without mica). Just plain mica marbles were usually called "Glimmer" (German for mica) or "Brandies". Dave

While I’m answering nomenclature questions: KLONDIKE – This is one original name given to what we now call Lutz marbles. Early factory advertising uses this name for what are clearly illustrated as Onionskin Lutz. A 1903 wholesale catalog listing for Klondike Gold Nuggets in black or yellow also seems to refer to Onionskin Lutz or Mist Lutz. The term Klondike was also used on later Banded-type Lutz marbles, in correspondence and sample boxes, though not in advertising. The German spelling is sometimes Klondiche or Klondyche. The gold strike on Canada’s Klondike River captured the world’s imagination in 1897, and might have inspired the gold-flecked marbles. BRANDIES – This is one original name given to what we now call Mica marbles. Another name is Glimmer (which in German means Mica). Brandies were brandy-flavored hard candies which these marbles resembled. An 1885 wholesale catalog listing uses the term “Glimmer Glass or Brandies”. Regards, Dave